HookC Fights Through Adversity To Beat Ohio State

Sunday, February 19

Sarasota, Fla.

4:00 PM

University of Connecticut

2-1

Ohio State University

1-2

Connecticut

Ohio State

2/19/2023 9:55:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SARASOTA, Fla. - The UConn baseball team (2-1) rallied for three runs in the seventh to beat Ohio State, 8-6, on Sunday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium.

UConn jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a pair of two-run home runs from Ben Huber in the first and Maddix Dalena in the second. Dalena homered in his first collegiate at bat.

LHP Andrew Sears made his UConn debut and was solid, pitching 5.0 innings of two-run ball with one walk and four strikeouts.

Ohio State rallied in the sixth inning against the UConn bullpen for three runs to take a 5-4 lead.

The UConn offense immediately responded in the seventh with David Smith, Korey Morton and Dominic Freeberger all drawing one-out walks. Huber followed with a hot shot to third that couldn't be handled and allowed Smith to score the tying run.

After a strikeout, shortstop Bryan Padilla came through with a two-out, two-run single to give the Huskies the lead back.

The Buckeyes responded with a run in the seventh to make it 7-6 and loaded the bases with two outs. RHP Brady Afthim was able to get a fly out to right to end the threat.

UConn answered in the eighth with David Smith drawing a walk and advancing to second on a long fly out to center field. Freeberger immediately followed with an RBI single to make it 8-6.

Afthim then came back out for the eighth and threw a scoreless frame with a pair of strikeouts.

UConn closed out the ninth inning with LHP Garrett Coe getting the first out of the frame and then closer Justin Willis recording the final two outs to lock down his first save of 2023.

The Huskies and Buckeyes will wrap up their series on Monday, February 20 at 11 a.m. at Centennial Park in Port Charlotte, Fla.

Game Notes

Justin Willis recorded his 17th career save, tying P.J. Poulin for 7th most in UConn history.
David Smith has reached base in 35-straight games dating back to last season, a streak that included a 10-game hit streak.
The Huskies notched their first victory when trailing after six innings. UConn had three wins of that variety in 2022.